Hanoi (VNS/VNA) — Banks will continue to tighten lending in risky sectorsincluding securities, real estate, financial, and tourism business, seeinghigher credit risks in the remaining months of this year, a 💞survey carried outby the Monetary Forecasting and Statistics Department has said.

The survey included 95percent of credit institutions and branches of foreign banks operating in Vietnam. The survey found thatcredit institutions saw an increase in overall credit demand in the first halfof this year and forecast the trend would continue in the second half. Onlycredit demand from tourism businesses dropped in the first half but it wasexpected to see a slight recovery in the second half. Credit risk was seen toincrease in the first half of 2021 but at a lower rate than the second half of2020 in almost all sectors. However, securities, real estate, financial andtourism businesses were considered sectors with higher credit risk in thepandemic. Banks said that theyintended to tighten lending for securities, real estate, financial and tourismbusiness in the remaining months of this year but loosen credit criteria forenterprises, especially those of small and medium-sized enterprises, onpositive economic prospects, improved financial capacity of credit institutions,and the Government’s drastic measures to fight the virus. Retail and wholesale,import and export and lending for living expenses were the major drivers ofcredit growth in the first half of this year and would continue in theremaining months of this year and next. State Bank of Vietnamstatistics showed that total outstanding loans were estimated to be more than 9.6quadrillion VND (414 billion USD) as of the end of May and banks pumped a netvalue of more than 455 trillion VND into the economy through lending channelsin the first five months of this year. Trade and industry werethe two sectors with the highest outstanding loans, worth more than 2.22quadrillion VND and 1.84 quadrillion VND respectively. Credit for trade saw agrowth rate of 5.73 percent while industry had a 6.73 percent growth rate,higher than overall credit growth of 4.95 percent in the first five months ofthis year./.